Sin City: Prodigal Son
by MacBeth2001
Summary: Booze, Broads, and Bullets... Evangelion retold and fused with Frank Miller's hardboiled, filmnoir comic, Sin City. AU, OOC. No foreknowledge of either franchise required.
1. The Return

Notes: Not much to say besides the standard, "I don't own Sin City or Evangelion, and I am making no profit yadda yadda yadda…."

My other Evangelion story will continue. I'm just trying something different so I don't burn out, focusing too hard on one story. And I'm sorry if you don't like this one's title. I was going to call this story "Frank Miller's Evangelion", but I thought that might be a little over the line.

As it happens, I am not Frank Miller.

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**Sin City: Prodigal Son**

Chapter: 1

"The Return"

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Have you ever had a toilet that you just couldn't fix? One day, it backs up on you, and no matter what you do to it, it never flushes quite right? It would cost too much to replace… plus, you can't be totally sure that the problem isn't the pipes. But sooner or later, it backs up on you again, just like the first time. I guess that's what Tokyo-3 is like.

Tokyo-1… the first one, I don't know what they called it… was just as big a cesspit as this place, so I'm told. Twenty-two years ago, a year before I was born, "Second Impact" wiped it out. Then they built another one and called it Tokyo-2. It didn't take long for the college kids to ruin things there. They were too busy having sex with each other for the hookers to make any money. And they were smart enough to make their own drugs, so the dealers couldn't make ends meet either. Some off-track betting places tried opening up, made no money, and that was that. Enter Tokyo-3….

The part they call "Old Town" used to be all there was. Just small enough to not be noticed by anyone important, and just big enough to let crime settle in and flourish. Eventually, the whores and pushers were making money hand-over-fist. But they got too comfortable, and they forgot that nothing attracts attention like the smell of cash. Pretty soon, the corporations moved in, and Japan had a gleaming new capital city built up around "Old Town". The cops tried reining things in at first, but found out the hard way that crime was too integral a part of life in the new capital to control. And they all joined in pretty quickly. So Tokyo-3 ended up as corrupt and degenerate as the first one.

A city called "Tokyo" is like a vampire. Besides sucking the life out of you, I mean. You can't kill it; it just keeps coming back…. I suppose that's a better analogy than the toilet… but it still smells like one.

I don't know why I came back…. No, that's a lie.

I came back because of a girl…. It's always a girl, isn't it?

I'd been waiting at the bus station for over half an hour. The wind was gusting, blowing the rain in at an angle under the overhanging roof. It was intermittent, like every now and then somebody was spitting in my face. This late at night, the terminal was locked up, so I squeezed myself as close to the building as I could and took the Polaroid out of my pocket to look at it again.

It was a picture of that indigo-haired temptress, Misato Katsuragi, lying on her bed, wearing nothing but a wink and a smile. She was only a B-cup, but she knew how to flaunt them. She mailed it to me all the way from Kyoto, so I wouldn't throw the envelope away as soon as I saw the Tokyo-3 postmark. I'm sure glad I didn't. But she's not the girl that I came back for.

On the back of the picture, Misato had written, simply, "Rei needs you". I had to hand it to her, she really knew how to get my attention and keep it. There was a bus ticket in the envelope with the picture. It was only one-way, but Misato is kind of a ditz, so I didn't read any extra meaning into that. It sort of pissed me off that those three little words were all it took to get me to use that ticket. But you can't stay mad at a smiling naked woman, and Misato knew as much.

"Rei" was Rei Ayanami, a girl I spent my formative teen years with. My father adopted her when she was nine, and I was eleven. She was the closest thing I ever had to a sister and the closest thing I ever got to having a steady girlfriend. I hope that gives you some idea of how fucked up I am.

A pair of headlights was coming toward me from up the road. The few vagrants mingling around got pretty jittery. You could never mistake Misato's beat-up blue hatchback for a cop car, so I had no idea what their problem was. I'd smelt an oppressive aroma of fear ever since I'd stepped off the bus. You live in Tokyo-3 long enough, you get numb to the dangers of doing so, but these people were scared. I'm nothing… nobody that anyone would remember, after three years… so I harbored no delusions that I was the cause.

The car rattled to a halt in front of me. There was no use waiting for the rain to let up, so I pulled the collar of my trench coat up and made a dash for the passenger-side door. My old Converse shoes splashed in dirty puddles. By the time I plopped down in the seat, my hair was good and soaked. That was okay, because I hadn't had a shower in a while.

There was Misato, behind the wheel. She was dressed for work, like always. Despite the cold, I felt a stirring in my pants. The clothed, live version was a hell of lot hotter than a naked picture. Her skin was still a little damp from the rain. It was too damned cold for her to be wearing just that leather corset and panties, thrown over a fishnet body-stocking. But, like I said, she was dressed for work. I spied a garter on her right leg, and I knew that her Walter PPK was tucked in there, snug against her thigh.

She looked me over, too, what she could see of me. I'm not a big guy, but I wear big coats to create the illusion that I am. She fingered that silver cross around her neck absently and raised her eyebrows before turning her eyes to the road. She threw the car into gear and gunned it. Besides the roar of the storm and the clatter of the engine, there was silence… but I didn't let that last very long.

"What the hell is this about?" I asked her. I brandished the back of the Polaroid, the message's ink smeared by the rain. She snatched it without looking and tossed it into the backseat. Already, I was souring on the live version.

"First order of business," she said, "now that you're back in town, is to check in with Ritsuko." She wove the car through traffic like a sewing machine on meth. Past the skyscrapers, through the tunnel, under the overpass, then down the hill… straight toward the heart of Old Town.

Ritsuko Akagi was my parole officer. I did six months in County when I was seventeen. They had to kick me when I turned legal, but I got put on probation. That was three years ago. As soon as I got out, I packed my shit and left this town behind. There was nothing left for me here, except for Rei and my father. But they didn't count anymore.

I told you that Rei was like my girlfriend sometimes. We never did get hot and heavy, though. I was fifteen, she was thirteen, when I did my first four-month stint in Juvenile Detention. We got each other plenty worked up before I went in, so while I was spanking it on the inside, she was getting her cherry popped on the outside. Needless to say, the relationship was a little strained after that.

She was sixteen and already turning tricks with Misato and the other girls of Old Town when I got out of County and took off. The girls had taught her to take care of herself, and I didn't want to see her like that. So I just left. We never even said "goodbye".

And my father…? I don't talk about my father.

Misato and I weren't ten feet into Old Town when a black-and-white that'd been tailing us turned on its roof-lights. Unofficially, the cops' jurisdiction doesn't cover Old Town. The understanding is that the girls police their own streets. They don't take any bribes, give a shit about any politics, or show any mercy. It's a tenuous system, but it works. If this pig didn't break off his pursuit at the border, he was either a rookie about to learn a painful lesson, or just one other guy.

Misato pulled over and waited. The storm was letting up, and you could hear the jangle of keys and cuffs on the cop's belt as he walked up to the car. He leaned down by Misato's window and shined his flashlight right in my face. If I had a gun, I would have pulled it. If it was a rookie, Misato's gun would have been pulled already.

"Good evening, Officer Kaji," she said with sweet venom.

"Well well well," he said, cool as anything, "if it isn't the Prodigal Son…. I take it that you're on duty, Katsuragi?"

"I take it that you're not," she spat back. He just smiled. Balls like watermelons, that guy.

"Just making sure that you're on your way to Mr. Ikari's P.O.," Kaji said.

"That's not your job."

"You let me worry about what is and isn't my job," he said. "Does his father know that he's back?"

"I guess he will soon enough."

"I guess so," Kaji agreed. "Maybe I'll see you at Keidi's later… both of you."

"They don't let cops in there," I reminded him.

"They let me in…."

"Right…," I started, but Misato laid a restraining hand on my knee. I squirmed a bit in my seat. That woman could give a guy a boner even with a cop breathing down his neck.

"You just be careful out there tonight," Misato said to him softly. "You know how dangerous it is." It was sincere concern, not a veiled warning. Kaji was the one guy who had nothing to fear from the girls; some history with Misato I knew nothing about. But her words didn't make sense in any other context. Danger wasn't something Kaji looked out for. It was like air to him; he inhaled and exhaled it.

Something big was up. Like I shouldn't have figured that out already.

"I'll be careful," he told her. He strutted off, returning to his squad-car. Then he headed back into the city. Misato started the car and we drove deeper into Old Town. I bit my tongue until we reached Ritsuko's apartment building.

"What's going on, Misato?" I asked as we exited the car. She could have said something. The street was empty, no one would have heard. All the bums had found somewhere else to go while it rained. But she didn't answer me. I just followed her long legs up the stairs of the front stoop and into the building. She finally spoke once we were in the elevator.

"Things are really bad right now," she told me. She got a far-off look in her eye that told me she just made an understatement. "There's a new gang in town…. Not just some kids trying to make a name for themselves; they're well-organized and well-armed. Sprung up practically overnight. What's worse is that they don't play by the rules. They rob, rape, and murder with no respect for boundaries or authority… ours or the cops'."

"So, teach them some respect," I replied with a shrug. Misato was about to say more when the elevator lurched to a halt. The doors shuddered open, and we made our way to Ritsuko's place. Misato banged three quick times on her door and waited.

All Ritsuko must have been wearing when we knocked was a pair of panties. She threw on an overcoat as she let Misato and me in, but I got a good view of her tits whenever she moved around. I always told her she could have any man she wanted with a body like hers. Too bad for any of them, she was a dyed-in-the-wool dyke.

"Who is it, Ritsu?" came a sleepy voice from the bedroom.

"Nobody, Maya. Go back to sleep."

"Do you have anything to drink?" Misato asked.

"You won't be staying long enough for a drink," Ritsuko said coldly. The two women took a while to stare each other down. They were friends in college, and I guess they still were. One was a cop, the other was a prostitute… must have been some school.

"Is somebody going to tell me what the hell's going on?" I finally asked with frustration.

"I told you," said Misato, "there's a new gang in town…."

"So what do I care?" I shouted back at her. To hell with Maya's beauty sleep, whoever she was. "And what does any of this have to do with Rei?"

"They're the ones that nearly killed her," Ritsuko said with a hint of relish. Given her choice of job, I would guess that she enjoyed dropping verbal bombs like that… especially ones that ended in "revoked".

"What?" was all I could say. Oh, I'm sure Ritsuko got her jollies from that. I bet I looked just like I was about to get hit by a truck… inside, I felt like I already had been.

"Broke her arm," continued Ritsuko, "smashed more than a few ribs. She almost lost an eye…."

"None of the damage was permanent," Misato added, "but she'll be recovering for a while. You said we should teach this new gang respect? Well, we tried. Rei's one of the best girls we have… maybe the best… and they laid her out. Some of the other girls didn't even come back…."

"The gang calls themselves the "Angels"," Ritsuko said. "I've got a list of some of their favored hang-outs. On the record, I'm telling you to keep your nose clean while you're back in town. Off the record, I--"

"So that's what this is?" I interrupted. "You've got some mess that you want cleaned up? I'm not your janitor. If you girls and you cops put your heads together, you could beat these bastards."

"That "enemy of my enemy" shit doesn't fly and you know it," said Misato.

"The cops don't like the girls having the power that they do in Old Town," Ritsuko said, "and the girls don't like the cops on principle."

"We don't like the fact that they don't have principles," Misato corrected her. "But she's right. Just because there's a new war, doesn't mean that the old, cold one is on hold. Each side is always waiting for the other to flinch, and they'll wait longer than it'll take for the Angels to ruin the city."

I looked down at my hand at that moment. The doorknob was in it, and I'd exposed Ritsuko's apartment to the hallway. I was on my way out, running away like I did three years ago. It was so natural, I barely noticed. I didn't want to be the kind of person who would do that, but I was. It wasn't as easy this time as it was before, so I went looking for some good excuses why they didn't need to stop me from going.

"My father practically runs this town," I said. "He could buy more than half the police force if he wanted to. Why don't you just ask him for help?"

"It was his idea to bring you in," Ritsuko told me. I didn't know whether to laugh or punch something.

"Well, with all due respect… fuck my father." Ritsuko flinched when I said that to her.

"So you're just going to run away again?" Misato asked. That one stung.

"What can I do?" I asked her seriously. "I'm just one person. I can't make a difference."

"One person can make a difference," Misato said, clutching her necklace tightly. The things they must have taught in that Catholic school of hers….

"Well, Rei can be that one person," I said, swimming madly against the rising tide of guilt. "She's a better fighter than me… always has been. Must've just had an off-night."

"The boy has a point," Ritsuko said to Misato. Her optimism was sarcastically false. "I'm sure Rei will set things right, once she's back on her feet. She's not dead yet."

The way she said it was as good as a threat. I couldn't get mad at her, though. It was the truth. If I didn't stay and back Rei up, take the fight to these assholes and put them back in their place, then she'd more than likely end up dead. After what they did to her, the place I wanted to put them in was six feet underground. I slowly closed the door, still standing on Ritsuko's and Misato's side of it.

"I'm going to need a gun…," I said, defeated. Ritsuko smiled wickedly and started rummaging through the drawers in her desk. Misato smiled briefly, too… with gratitude.

"There's a little lady who's been waiting to see you," Ritsuko told me. I thought about Rei when she said that, but then she pulled out an old shoebox and flipped off the lid. I was looking at what was in the box, but I also caught Misato smirking out of the corner of my eye. She was always making a joke out of serious things. I really hated that about her.

"There you are," I breathed. It was kind of funny. The fear that I'd never see her or touch her again swelled up, just before dissipating at the sight of her.

I guess I've been pretty lucky, because I don't know what it's like to lose a limb, like a hand or a foot. But I think I have some inkling of what it'd be like to get one back. There she was, lying in that box. She was an extension of myself, a part that I'd been missing, and I felt whole again as soon as I lifted her gently from her resting place.

She was nothing special, really… just a black, 9mm semi-automatic, standard military issue. She used to be my father's, when he was in the service. The only thing he ever gave me. She felt heavy. I figured that someone must have put a fresh clip in her. I chambered the first round and took a long look at the view from behind her hammer. Breathtaking, as usual.

"After all this time," Misato said with a laugh, "you still treat that thing like it's your baby or something."

"Show some respect, please," I said quietly, admiring my piece. "Her name is Eva."

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Continued…


	2. Sachiel

**Sin City: Prodigal Son**

Chapter: 2

"Sachiel"

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After sleeping the rest of the night and most of the next day at a seedy motel off the highway, I found myself at Keidi's hitting the hard stuff. It was a place I'd gone to a lot in my youth, cutting class and heading down the back alleys. Girls who didn't want to go into Old Town and make a living on their backs could go there and dance for their wages. Keidi was the owner of the joint and the sweetest transsexual you'd ever want to meet. Who else would let a fourteen-year-old boy into a strip club? She told me that she knew what it was like to be a fourteen-year-old boy. She spent a lot of time playing soldier back then, as a way of overcompensating.

I was fighting the effects of the liquor, trying to remember everything Ritsuko had told me the previous night. The naked girls shaking and jiggling up on the stage didn't help my concentration any.

"Nobody knows how big the Angels' gang is," she'd told me. "But they have a core group of lieutenants who run things. Each of them goes by some weird, biblical-sounding codename… Israel, Ishmael, Email… shit like that. Except for the leader… they call him Adam."

"Adam's biblical," I told her.

"Shut up, smart-ass."

The list she had of their "favored hang-outs" read like a tourists' guide to all the gin joints in Tokyo-3. Some help that was. So I indulged myself in a trip down memory lane by going to Keidi's first. I always liked the music there; the best stuff Detroit had to offer. And I don't mean fucking Nugent or Madonna, or any of that post-Impact rap shit, either. I'm talking about Motown soul: Smokey and the Miracles, the Isley Brothers, Marvin Gaye… stuff you can laugh and drink and cry to.

The opening strains of "Keep Me Hangin' On" kicked up, and suddenly I was back four years ago. Everyone turned their eyes to the stage. A girl that I used to go to school with was making her way up. She'd dropped out at sixteen. It had been four years since I'd seen her, and she hadn't changed a bit. Still hot as hell. Still loved to shake it to that song.

She had us all panting before she took off a thing. That school-girl uniform, those pigtails…. By the time she was down to just her bobby-socks, every guy in the place would've killed to have that freckle-faced little girl smile their way. Hikari Horaki sure was something, all right.

I'd have been content to piss away the night on overpriced booze and Hikari's sweet ass, but fate apparently had other plans for me. I was trying to bum a smoke when I caught sight of somebody getting tossed by the bouncer. There was nothing strange about that; what got my attention was overhearing why.

"And don't you ever come in here again, peddling that shit!" the bouncer was yelling. He loosened the other guy's teeth with his fist a couple of times before kicking him out the door. He was mad as hell, but I could tell that he was holding back. The other guy was so scrawny; it looked like a solid hit would've broken him in half.

I threw back another shot before I made for the door. The little guy was still picking himself up off the ground when I got out there.

"Are you suicidal or something?" I asked him. "You don't go pushing inside Keidi's."

"Jesus Christ!" he said, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the alley floor. "I don't need you busting my ass too, man. I'm just trying to make a living. You know the fucking Old Town girls don't let anyone sell down there no more. Those bitches forgot who helped them build Old Town up from nothing, back in the day."

"I wouldn't talk about the girls like that around me, pal," I advised. The girls were indeed pretty hard-nosed about cornering Old Town's economy; no pimps, no mob, and no pushers allowed. Only room for one kind of "blow" for sale down there, I guess. "But I thought you pushers did plenty of business uptown. Those corporate fat-cats get bored screwing their trophy-wives; they turn to a little chemical recreation, right?"

"Sure, but that was before the Angels moved in on all the prime territory…." Bingo. I thought I smelled something rotten. I let that weasel of a drug-dealer whine at me some more. He probably didn't have many people to complain to, apart from bartenders.

"Shinra, Umbrella… all the big corporations buy from the Angels, now. You either find somewhere else to deal, or you're fucking dead. They don't play around. The guy they have in charge of their drug trade… "Sachiel" they call him… he offered to put me to work. Fuck that! Fucking pyramid scheme is what it is; too many fucking middle-men. All the Angels' shit is from outside suppliers. I got better sources for coke and smack. Plus, I farm my own weed, and I cook my own damn meth!"

Pride of the small-business owner… what a piece of work.

"Where can I find this "Sachiel"?" I asked. Maybe I sounded too eager. The pusher's gaunt cheeks pulled his mouth into a greasy little grin.

"What's the info worth to ya, mister?" he asked me. I pulled out Eva and let her handle the rest of the conversation.

He gave me an address pretty quick.

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I kept telling myself that this was only going to work once….

The address I got was an old warehouse down by the docks in Old Town. No wonder the Angels had run afoul of the girls. Still, if you wanted to bring in loads of contraband quick and quiet, this was the place to do it.

The sky was that deep blue you get just after dusk, threatening to go black on you in two seconds flat. There were a couple of guys milling around in the streetlights outside, trying to look like they had every right to be there and that no one else did. I took my hands out of my coat pockets, to make sure that they were visible… and visibly empty… as I approached them. Eva was tucked nice and neat in the back of my pants, invisible under my billowing coat.

"Beat it, kid," one of them said when he noticed me.

This was only going to work once, because nobody knew me, or remembered me from three years ago; four, if you don't count my time in County. For all they knew, I was just some fresh-faced kid, out to make a name. "Kid"? I guess I still looked like a teenager, even though I was twenty-one. Let them make all the assumptions that they wanted….

"You guys with the Angels?" I asked them. I tried to sound all innocent and eager.

"You lookin' to join?" one of them asked. The other one just kept eyeing me.

"Maybe," I said. The guy eyeballing me was almost making me sweat. I didn't recognize him, but I made plenty of enemies before I left town. Nobody with long memories, though, or so I thought.

"Well, that ain't our call," said the first guy dismissively. "We ain't that high up on the food chain."

"So, what, you're more like Cherubs then?" I asked. Shit! Me and liquor and my smart mouth. The nuns in grade school were always saying it'd get me into trouble, right before they'd smack me across the face.

"Oh, you're a funny one," said Eyeball. "I think maybe we should take him up to see the boss. The boss'll get a real kick out of this guy."

They grabbed me and I let them. I kept my head down as they led me through the warehouse. No sense drawing more attention to my face than necessary. All the while, Eyeball and his pal were snickering like they had a better grasp of irony than I did.

This was only going to work once, because nobody was going to be pulling Johnny No-names off the street and waltzing them into their HQ after what I was going to do. My escorts took me to a room with about a dozen other guys in it. Any one of them could have been the boss-man. But hadn't the pusher outside Keidi's said that Sachiel himself had offered him work? I decided it was time to change my tune a bit.

"Which one of you is Sachiel?" I demanded loudly. That impressed them, the authoritative tone, and me knowing the boss's name. The goons parted like the Red Sea. I walked a little way toward what they revealed, and the pack of them closed in behind me.

At the far end of the room, there was a polished metal desk. It looked out of place among all the wood; the crates, the doors, the rotting planks that were holding the building together. And behind the desk sat the man they called Sachiel, looking out of place himself amongst all the two-bit hoods.

He was a giant. He was bald, tan, and ripped; a mountain of a man squeezed into a tailored shirt. The distance between his shoulders was about the same as from my knees to my neck. It looked like he had a good two feet on me, too, when he got up from behind that desk. He walked right over to me, like we were the best of friends.

"I came to talk business, and I only talk business with the man in charge," I told him. I took a look around at all the thugs in the room. "And I don't like having an audience."

Sachiel smiled a little and then nodded at his men. They dutifully filed out like the sheep they were. The Big Guy was either very trusting, or he was very cocky. I was counting on one of those character flaws to make him very dead.

I'd seen a lot on the way up. No question he was muscling in on the drug trade, and hard. But I wanted to be sure. It wasn't like I was afraid to tangle with him. It's just a personal rule: you don't take a man down unless you're sure of your reasons, not even if he's an invalid sucking all his meals through a tube. So I made sure.

"So… I hear you, uh… "came to an understanding", shall we say… with the girls around here?" I ventured. His smile was big this time, showing all his teeth.

A smile is worth a thousand words, you know. Most of those words being "fuck", I might add. Like, "I just had a great fuck", or "I really fucked you over", or in this particular case, "I fucked those girls up pretty bad". That was all I needed to know.

This was only going to work once, because nobody knew of anyone crazy enough to walk right into a gang leader's hideout and blow him away. Nobody knew me… yet. But they were about to learn. I smiled Sachiel's smile right back at him, all the while hearing Eva singing to me her sweet song of death. I listened to it a little more before I reached for her.

A roundhouse kick took Eva out of my hand the second I drew her. When did I get so dumb? I was rusty and stupid and about to pay for it.

I blocked Sachiel's first punch, but his second nailed me in the ribs. I'd gotten soft, too. I used to be able to take a punch like that. I was hacking my lungs out when he went for my face. One, two, and I was down. The guy hit like a prizefighter. I tried to get up, but his heel on my spine kept me down. For an encore, Sachiel leaned down, grabbed my hair, and pounded my skull into the floor a couple of times.

I spent a while swimming in blackness, stars bursting in front of my eyes. My ears were ringing and buzzing. I couldn't feel anything, which was probably fortunate. When my senses finally did ooze back into my head, a pair of guys, one on each side of me, were holding me up by my arms. My face starting throbbing and it was wet with my own blood. I don't remember getting back on my feet, but I was probably hauled up. Sachiel's two flunkies were supporting me more than my legs could at the time.

"So what should we do with the little motherfucker?" one of them asked Sachiel. He was back behind his desk. You'd never guess to look at him that he just beat the hell out of me. Eva was there in front of him, way too far out of my reach. It was just the five of us in the room, counting her. The Big Guy himself actually looked like he was about to say something, but I beat him to it.

"What did you say?" I asked the guy who spoke. I was starting to get my wind back. The ugly fuck got right in my face and repeated himself really slow… like I was stupid or something.

"I asked what we should do with you…," he said, "you little… mother… fucker."

Remember how I said that I don't talk about my father? Nobody talks about my mother.

He wasn't ready for the Beast to come out. Neither was I, really. But there it came. I slammed my foot hard against Ugly's knee, enjoying the cracking sound and him howling in pain. He let go of my right arm before his friend could tighten up on my left. By the time he could even try to get a handle on me, I was already bloodying my knuckles on his face. He let go of my left arm, and I sent that elbow straight into his chin. He fell backwards onto the floor and didn't get up. His pal, Ugly, wasn't going to be on his feet too soon either. I stepped on his throat, though, just to make sure.

Sachiel and I looked at each other. It had all happened so fast; I was still panting. Our eyes fell on Eva at the same time, sitting there on his desk. We moved as one. Even though I made a running jump across the room, we both knew that there was no way I could beat him to my gun. But I wasn't going for the gun. The Beast hadn't left, yet.

I kicked forward in the air and my heel impacted his nose. That hit would've sent a normal guy back a few paces, but not this ox. Good. I landed hard on the desk and my hipbone complained, but I didn't listen. I just kept on kicking him; face, arms, chest, whatever I could reach with my feet. I think I was yelling. My throat was sore enough afterward. But I can't remember.

He must have gotten Eva despite the first kick, because I heard him drop her. I rolled backward off the desk and crouched low. He was standing on the other side, his face as bloody as mine now, looking around for where she fell. I guess he still thought I was going to try racing him to her. Now who's dumb, asshole?

I put my shoulder against it, and I shoved the desk into him as hard as I could. He took it right in the abdomen and stumbled back until I had him pinned against the wall, chair and all. He spit out a wet cough of surprise at the final impact. I pulled the desk out of the way so I could get to him, and he fell to his knees clutching his gut.

That shot with the desk probably tore up his insides pretty bad; bad enough to punch his ticket and send him straight to hell. My hands around his throat made certain of it. If anyone had asked, I'd tell them that I did it to conserve bullets or to keep things quiet. But choking the life out of him was really my way of putting the Beast back inside. Once it was sated, I picked up Eva and I got the hell out of there.

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I didn't have enough money for another night at the motel. In my condition, it wasn't likely that I would even be able to find it again. I managed to stagger my way past Sachiel's other men outside the warehouse, looking like maybe I was a homeless drunk that some frat kids had worked over for the fun of it. It happens often enough…. This city makes me sick.

The pain was really starting to get to me, now that the liquor and adrenaline had worn off; my hip where I hit the desk… my bloody, swollen face… my ribs. Eva kept me going, though. I couldn't lose her again. I knew that if I didn't find somewhere safe to crash, the derelicts hovering around would have their hands in my pockets before I even hit the sidewalk. Fucking vultures.

Misato's apartment was closer than Ritsuko's or Rei's, so I headed there. I got to the building and waited in agony for the elevator. Your body always starts screaming at you to quit, right when you're in the home stretch, you know? That little light above the door felt like it spent twenty minutes on each floor. The ding when it reached the ground made my head want to explode. I got in, and the trip up nearly had me puking.

I had no idea how late it was. I just kept pounding on Misato's door, no matter how much it hurt my hand or my head to do it. Finally she opened up, and I tripped across a sea of empty beer cans into her arms. Her place was a sty. I hope she took her Johns to a motel or something. Then again, they probably weren't too interested in the ambiance.

"Shit," she whispered at my appearance. I'm sure I was a sight. I leaned against her, pressing my body into hers for support and warmth. I bet she thought I was trying to cop a feel, but I just didn't want to fall over. Not onto that floor.

"No freebies, lover-boy," I heard her tease.

That's when I passed out.

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Continued…


	3. Shamshel

**Sin City: Prodigal Son**

Chapter: 3

"Shamshel"

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I woke up the next morning in Misato's apartment. The couch I was lying on smelled like beer. There were worse places I could have found myself, and soberer people I could have found myself with. Consequently, a little sweet-talking on my part was all it took for Misato to agree to put me up while I was in town. Plus, I think she might have had a thing for me. I wasn't above using that to get free room and board.

A couple days went by with nothing much happening. Some girls were killed; not Rei or Misato. Some cops bought it, too; not Ritsuko or Kaji. And it was all the damn Angels' fault. They were turning Tokyo-3 into a minefield; one wrong step and you were a smear on the pavement.

I spent more time than I should have at Keidi's. They say that lightening doesn't strike the same place twice, which is actually a lie, but it was still unlikely that I'd get another lead by hanging out at that place. Ritsuko would pass me tips, unofficially, and I'd check them out. But after coming up empty, I'd always head back to hit the booze and watch Hikari dance.

One particular evening, I stayed until closing. There was a guy in the place that I'd never seen before. He was about my age with dark, spiky hair. He wore his poker-face like an old, comfortable suit. Even so, he was giving off a vibe like he wanted to talk to me or something. I thought maybe finally my luck was changing, and I had attracted the attention of the Angels, like I'd hoped to do after offing Sachiel.

I gave the guy plenty of opportunities to approach me. I didn't want to seem too eager. But he just sat watching Hikari and pounding back the drinks. It wasn't until I headed out that he made it really obvious that he was tailing me.

"Nobody sneaks up on me," I told the guy. He was only a couple paces behind me in the alley outside Keidi's. I turned nice and slow to show him that I wasn't afraid of some pussy making a crappy attempt at an ambush. He shrugged.

"I wasn't really trying that hard," he said. Then he socked me in the jaw.

I landed on my ass. That hurt… my tailbone and my pride. The guy didn't make a single move after that. He just stood there looking down at me. Rest assured, if he'd so much as twitched, I'd have shot him.

"That was for my sister," he told me. I blinked. I'd raised a lot of hell back in the day, but not that kind. "She's in rehab right now… third try. My Dad and I thought she was clean the last time, until her roommate found her in their kitchen with her wrists slashed. Good thing she can't cut for shit when she's high."

"What's that got to do with me?" I asked. The guy fixed me with a stare like he wanted to tear me apart. I could see him grinding his teeth, trying to keep his cool.

"Sachiel should've been mine," he hissed.

Shit. I didn't know what to say. I just sat there as he stepped over me. I watched him walk away, sullen and unfulfilled. Punching me was sure as hell no replacement for killing the bastard who'd poisoned his sister. He was almost out of sight before I found my voice.

"Man, I'm sorry," I said. It sounded lame because it was. So was this: "What's your name?"

"Toji," he told me. And then he was gone.

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A few days later, I finally bit the proverbial bullet.

The old church was the same. I felt that same shiver of fear when I passed through those iron-hinged doors, like God had His eye on me now that I was in His house. It was the same sensation I'd had, going in there at age 8 after lifting some gum from the corner store. Only this time, I'd killed somebody. All the same as far as God's concerned, so they say. If I'm going to hell for something, it's not going to be on a "graven images" rap, that's for damned sure. Ah, but isn't that the beauty of Catholicism? Quick trip to the booth, and all's forgiven. More or less. I didn't stay up at night pondering the finer points.

Mary and the Saints wept down at me from the windows as I walked between the pews in the empty hall. The candles were freshly lit. I assumed so, anyhow. They'd have been stumps if they'd been burning since the night before. I made the sign of the cross at the Big Man on the wall, then I headed over to the confessional. The priest was ready and waiting.

"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned," I said as I took my seat. "It's been three years since my last confession."

"And what are your sins, my son?" came the voice from behind the partition.

"Well, I won't bore you with the old, small stuff…," I told him. "A few nights ago, I killed a man. Possibly three. I didn't make sure of the other two." There was a deep silence. Finally, the Father drew a breath to speak.

"Were they wicked men?" he asked. My bruised body was already screaming "yes".

"Undoubtedly," I said.

"Then you are forgiven," said the priest. More silence followed. I waited a while for something more. "But forgiveness is not all you have come seeking, is it, my son?" It was good to hear that he wasn't totally oblivious.

"I want to know about the Angels."

"The Scriptures tell us all we need to know about the messengers of God."

"Not those Angels," I said, trying to keep my patience. "I mean the gang. Ritsuko's got her sources, apparently, but it's pretty scant stuff so far. You've got your ear to the ground. You know things. What can you tell me about the Angels?"

I knew that he was weighing his response carefully. It's something you do as a public figure; second nature to priest and politician alike. Whenever you have to deviate from the script that you've rehearsed for the masses… "God's in His heaven, all's right with the world", "You are forgiven", "No new taxes", all that bullshit… you want to make sure you say just the right thing, so as not to dig yourself into a hole.

"Officer Akagi knows everything that I know about the Angels," he told me.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. "Big help, as usual."

I stormed out of the booth, stomping my feet and listening to it echo, signaling my displeasure and departure. Twenty-one years old and I wasn't above a little tantrum. Just like when I was a kid, going off to my room and slamming the door when I didn't get my way. I heard the priest leave his booth behind me, and I looked back.

Like Lot's dumb-ass wife, I looked back.

She was waiting up front by the altar. I knew in an instant that it was her. You couldn't miss that shock of powder-blue hair, that porcelain-white skin, or those burning eyes. Rei Ayanami. Her katanas, she had the respect not to bring into the sanctuary. Guiltily, I knew she could spot the bulge of Eva in the back of my pants, even under the coat, even from this distance. But her eyes weren't on me. It wasn't me that she was waiting for.

The priest smoothed his vestments and straightened his collar. He took a last dour look at me before turning to go to her. He was always so calm and detached. Just like Rei. Even when she was cutting somebody in half for crossing the girls of Old Town; even when she was telling you that you were worthless, which she could do with one cold stare. But when the two of them talked, you could see the malice and the hate that she hid so well. It was the only time it showed. They argued at the front of the church in harshly spit whispers, so I couldn't tell what they were saying.

I didn't stick around to see the end of it. I shoved my way past the big, wooden doors and flew down the steps to the street. I remember, at the time, I was thinking about the Father's glasses. He'd gotten a new pair since I'd seen him last; tinted, reflecting the light so you could barely catch a glimpse of his eyes. The Father… my father… Gendo Ikari.

I wasn't adopted like Rei. He was my real father by blood. The Catholic Church lifted their ban on priests marrying and procreating after Second Impact killed half the planet's population. They were a little worried about keeping up the numbers of the faithful, and rightly so. I think they were genuinely surprised when God's Wrath in the form of a giant meteor killed them as indiscriminately as it did the heathens.

Me and my Dad is a whole can of worms that I don't want to get into right now. It's a lot of hurt and shame and memories that I'd rather forget. But it was none of that stuff that was distracting me as I left his church. It was just his stupid, new glasses.

I didn't notice the car pull up until it was too late. Two guys got out, clubbed me and Tazered me at the same time to make good and sure that I was down and out. I guess they were out of chloroform, or they would've gone for the hat-trick.

My sense shut down and I took another dip into blackness.

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I woke up tied to a chair, completely naked. I had a fleeting hope that I'd woken up at Misato's again. She'd do some pretty kinky shit if you paid her enough. But then I remembered the car outside the church and the thugs.

Besides me and the chair, there was a table in the room with my clothes and gun sitting in one corner of it. The two guys who grabbed me were there too, along with a third guy. He was a gangly son-of-a-bitch; thin neck, hawk-nose, and arms that looked half-a-foot too long for the rest of his proportions. At the end of one of those arms, he was holding a bag that I'd didn't much like the look of. Or maybe I'm just remembering it that way because of what came later.

"I'd like to complain about the draft," I said, trying to act all macho and flip.

The little guy with the bag sauntered over to me. He slapped my face, and then put his finger to his lips.

"Mr. Shamshel insists that you do not speak," one of the henchmen told me. "However, if you like, he will permit you to scream. It's encouraged, actually."

"Shamshel" started pulled all sorts of things from his bag, laying them out neatly on the table. It looked like a doctor's bag and a mechanic's tool box had gone and had a masochist's wet-dream of a baby. Each little toy he pulled out, Shamshel smiled at it like he was checking out a centerfold model. When he was done unpacking, he nodded at his pals, and they left us alone in the room. I knew I was in for it.

It went on, I don't know how long. Shamshel knew his stuff. He knew pressure points, where the biggest bundles of nerves would give me the most pain from just a jab with the tips of his fingers or a needle from his kit. He knew how to use the pliers on me, make me think he was going to break a finger but stop just short. Then he went to my toes, and he did break a couple of the little ones. Worst of all, he knew how to cut; not too deep, just enough to draw blood, in all the little, sensitive places like the skin between the fingers, around the nipples, under the ears, and other places I won't mention.

I wouldn't scream. I'd grunt and I'd cough. My eyes were red from watering and the insides of my cheeks were bloody from me biting them, but I wouldn't give that sadistic fuck the satisfaction of a scream. I couldn't tell if I was frustrating him, though. He went about his business like a machine. I hoped I was pissing him off.

I'd just about had it when he shoved something in my mouth. It was molded to bite down on and tasted like it hadn't been cleaned too thoroughly since its last use. I took it anyway, to give my cheeks a break. Then I saw him get out what looked like a car battery. I figured, correctly, that I was in for some makeshift electro-shock therapy.

He attached the leads to me, and by this point I didn't much care if it killed me. I shed a tear with Rei's name on it that no one could see, mixed as it was with all the others. Then he hooked me up to the juice. I had no sensation from my body, no control or thought, other than searing pain all over. He gave me a little break to remember my other wounds, then hit me with it again. I still wasn't screaming. It was more of a yell, muffled through the mouthpiece.

The lights went out during my second break. Other things were happening, but it was all I could do to process just the lack of light. There was a pop and a flash in the darkness. I thought the fucker had shot me, even though I didn't feel it. I wasn't sure that I could feel, after the wringer I'd been through. I wondered for a crazy second if he'd shot me in the head, and maybe my nerves were too fried for me to realize that I was dead.

"Holy shit, man, are you okay?" someone asked me. It took me a long time to clear the fog out of my head; time that someone spent untying me. He was helping me to my feet and over to my clothes when I recognized the voice.

"Toji?" I asked in a choking whisper. He went over, warned me so I'd be ready, and then flicked the lights back on. It was him. I spent another good chunk of time getting dressed… mostly because I wouldn't let him help me. By the time I finished, I was feeling a little better than I had after my bout with Sachiel. About all that meant was that I probably wouldn't pass out.

"What a waste," I said dryly. Shamshel was lying on the floor with a fresh bullet-hole in his forehead. "He'd have made a great interrogator, if he'd fucking bothered to ask me anything!" Toji was putting away his gun and shaking his head.

"You killed Sachiel, I killed Shamshel," he said. "I guess that makes us even."

"Not quite," I said. Then I socked him in the jaw.

To his credit, he didn't go down. He staggered a little, but that was all. He was even smiling as he massaged his chin. Toji probably knew damn well he was asking for that punch, and he knew that I was ready to give it. But I was a long way from satisfied. Blood was pooling under Shamshel's head, but I could still hear the Beast whispering to me inside my own. It kept reminding me of what Shamshel had done; all the indignities and pain he inflicted on me. The whispers got louder until I didn't know what I was doing.

I pulled out Eva and I fired. I screamed loud and I kept on firing. I perforated that fucker's corpse and I didn't stop, even after Eva was clicking in my hand. Toji put his hand on my shoulder and I almost pistol-whipped him. He looked pretty freaked out by what I'd just done, and I can't say I blame him.

"The cops are coming," he told me softly. "I called them right before I busted in here. You'd better go."

The blood was pumping in my ears. I hadn't heard the sirens until he mentioned them. Toji led me over and showed me the way he'd come up. I went out that same way, down the fire escape. I was so worried about getting collared; I didn't even stop to put a fresh clip in Eva. I also didn't notice the significance of what Toji had said. A whole lot of shit was going to go down before I even remembered his choice of words.

And by then, of course, it would be way too late.

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Continued…


	4. Ramiel

**Sin City: Prodigal Son**

Chapter: 4

"Ramiel"

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"How long has he been in that room?"

"Through all of yesterday, since he got back. He won't even let me take him to a doctor."

Ritsuko had come over to Misato's for breakfast. They were pretty casual about it, like maybe it was a regular thing. Or maybe Akagi just wanted to get into Misato's pants; not that I'd blame her…. They were talking together in the living room. Either they didn't think or didn't care that I could hear.

"He's going off the deep end, Misato. You keep pushing him, he's going to crack."

"Might have already…."

I might have. I was in the bedroom, having my own conversation.

"Why, Eva?" I whispered. I regarded that cold 9 in my hand for a while. "Why didn't you protect me from the Beast…? That's what you're for; to put some distance between me and the killing. Keep me safe… keep me in control. But I could hear it. You were in my hand, that Angel was dead and gone, but I could still hear it! Why? Aren't you enough anymore, baby…? I've got so much more killing to do… I need you."

The smell of breakfast and the gnawing hunger in my gut finally made me drag my ass out of bed. Misato was having her usual; toast and beer. Ritsuko looked up from her food to take in the sight of me. I was covered in butterfly bandages thanks to Shamshel's handiwork.

"You look like shit," she observed with a smile.

"Fuck you," I mumbled in reply.

"Well, I'm glad you're finally up," she said, as if I hadn't just cursed at her. Took a lot to phase that woman; nature of her job. She got off the couch and walked over to me. I could smell the mix of perfume and cigarettes coming off that tight sweater of hers.

"You want something?" I asked. Ritsuko smiled.

"A favor," she said simply. She licked her lips as she took a glance down at my package. Almost made me forget which team she played for. Good actress… nature of her job.

"Two bodies in the morgue not good enough for you?" I said. The tall blonde pouted a little, shrugged, and then backed off. Out of her coat, she pulled a fat envelope and slapped it down on Misato's coffee table. Like that table had ever even seen coffee….

"I owe Rei some money," Ritsuko explained. She returned to her seat beside her tipsy friend. The mention of Rei's name seemed to sober Misato up a little. Ritsuko continued, "I thought you might want to take it over to her; nice excuse to visit. Maybe remind you why you're doing all this, in case that last run-in with the Angels shook your resolve."

"Only strengthened it, babe," I told her. I scooped up the cash-stuffed envelope and made for the door. "Don't wait up, Misato."

My "landlady" just raised her beer can to me, then downed the rest in one long pull. I strutted out the door like I didn't have a care in the world, other than finding and killing some more Angels. Inside, my heart was jumping like I was a kid at junior prom.

Rei….

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She still lived in the same apartment building that she had four years ago. The place had gotten even shittier, which I didn't think was possible. You keep the Mob and the pushers out of Old Town, that still doesn't mean your neighbors are going to be Ozzie and Harriet, right? I tried the handle of #402, and found it unlocked as usual.

I noticed the ancient mail left neglected in the slot. There were scarcely any signs that somebody lived there at all. I shut the door quietly behind me, taking my shoes off before moving deeper into the apartment. I was just inside the bedroom when I felt something sharp pressing into the small of my back.

"It's just me, Rei," I said softly. I froze, trying not to breathe. If I had, her katana would have punctured my kidney. My sweet, deadly little Rei.

I felt the pressure on my back ease, and I turned around to look at her. She was standing there stark naked, sliding her blade back into its saya. I must have caught her in the shower.

She didn't say anything as she dressed. She pulled on a thong and some tight Capri's. She was pert enough to go braless under a silky, black kimono-top. I just stood there enjoying the show, looking at her as much as she wasn't looking at me.

I would dream about her every night, you know; her body… her face. Every night I was in juvey, or in jail, or with another woman. She was all I ever needed; the only person who really knew me, because we grew up together in that hell. My father's adopted daughter… delicious forbidden fruit that I'd always wanted to taste, but never had.

I'm sure it's obvious, but I'll say it… I loved her. She was the one who used to hold me; a ten-year-old girl cradling a twelve-year-old boy whose dad had just beat the shit out of him again. I was broken… incomplete… and she was the missing piece of me. She was my strength and my control; sort of like Eva is now, almost. I used to wonder how Rei stayed so strong and in control. Who protected her? If only I knew.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Watching her dress, watching her move toward me when I told her that I had something for her, it was easy to forget the past four years we'd been apart. It was easy to forget that I was the one who'd run away… and that maybe I'd hurt her in the process. She walked close to me and I reached out, pulling her closer. My eyes locked with hers, and all I thought of was kissing her soft lips.

But those lips had tightened into a grim line. She'd forgotten nothing. Rei squirmed in my embrace, working her arms up to shove me away. It would've hurt less if she'd stabbed me.

"You don't want me," I said, "but you'll get on your back for any John with enough cash?"

She slapped my face hard, and I deserved it. Doesn't mean that it didn't piss me off, though. I tossed Ritsuko's envelope at her. She let it hit her in the chest and fall to the floor.

"There you go, slut," I said, my face still stinging. "I didn't think you swung both ways."

I slammed the door on my way out… heard some of that old mail cascade onto the floor.

I made sure I was done crying before I hit the street and headed back to Misato's.

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The day after I'd gone to visit Rei, Ritsuko came running over around noon with a hot tip. My visit had almost had the opposite effect from what she'd intended. I had found that I was doing this mainly to protect someone who didn't give a shit about me anymore. But there were other girls' safeties to be considered…. And fuck it if I didn't still love Rei anyway.

"Codename: Ramiel," Ritsuko told me. The grainy surveillance photo showed a business man on his cell. He was young and trim, looking like any other corporate stooge starting on his trip up the ladder. "He's in charge of laundering the Angels' money, juggling their off-shore accounts, and dodging the tax-man. Cooks their books after-hours in the big Bank One building downtown. Easy pickings."

"You weren't shitting me about them being well-organized," I said to Misato. "Alright… so let's get some of the girls together and roll up on his ass."

But Misato shook her head.

"That's downtown, not Old Town," she said. "They're rules…."

"Screw the rules! The cops are going to give you grief over some fucking Angel? What about Carmen, or Sally, or any of the other girls the Angels put in the ground? The cops don't give a shit about them." Ritsuko looked a little sick, me talking about her pals in blue like that, but like I gave a fuck.

"It's their damned pride," said Misato. "If we take care of business on their turf, the cops look weak, so they have to come down on us to save face. Then we push back, and soon enough, you got a war on your hands. A lot more blood, a lot more dead, and the Mob picking up the pieces, is that what you want?"

"It's all fucking politics with you, huh, Misato?" I said, heading for the door. "I guess that's what you've got me and Eva for, right?"

She didn't answer because it was true. I was just her damned tool.

But, for love and revenge, I let her use me.

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That night, I stood in the shadows looking up the bank building as it climbed into the sky. It towered above me; a gleaming metal fortress. The glass of its windows reflected the city lights all around, revealing nothing of its insides.

I'd done my fair share of B-and-E, way back when. It took practice to get into a fortress like the Bank One building, but practice was something I'd had plenty of. Not that I'm some safecracker or anything, you understand. I was just a teenage punk; in for some vandalizing and then out, quick as hell. You could never be totally sure that you hadn't tripped the silent alarms. That was the point of them being silent, right?

The guys roaming the halls with Uzis that night didn't appear to have been alerted to my arrival. Their mere presence sure told me that something was up, though. Gun-toting bruisers guarding an office building at midnight? Fat chance. "Ramiel" was obviously doing a little after-hours bookkeeping, just like Ritsuko had said. Good.

I was going to have to do this quietly. One-on-one, hand-to-hand style. Before you ask, there was no way was I putting a silencer on Eva. I'd feel like one of those self-centered fucks who get their dog an operation to snip its vocal chords. Just fucking cruel.

Ritsuko had said that Ramiel's office was on the 30th floor. I weighed my options. No telling how many guards might be in the stairwell, and I damned well didn't want to hoof it up 30 flights, so an elevator seemed the best choice. There was one in the main lobby with a guard in front of it, and I spotted another guard roving around all over the ground floor. Just two? It was going to be a snap. No pun intended… although that was the sound the rover's neck made when I took him down.

I dragged the first guy into a bathroom, and then set about taking care of the other. The lobby was big, dark and afforded me plenty of cover. From watching the first guard's circuit, I guessed I'd have about five minutes before his pal started wondering why he hadn't seen him again. I crouched down behind a plant near a window, and I almost pissed myself.

A guard outside, not ten feet from me, was looking in through the window. I nearly blew everything in my panic, before I realized that he was looking at his own reflection and couldn't see inside. Soon, he stopped checking himself and started moving toward the front door. My five minutes had just become about two.

I picked up a polished stone from the plant's pot and moved as close to the elevator as I dared. The elevator guard's head jerked to the side when he heard the stone clatter off to his left. Finding nothing, he looked forward again and found me.

I barreled him into the doors, knocking the wind out of his lungs and the gun out of his hand. I sent my knee into his family jewels, buying me enough time to press the "up" button on the wall. Then I picked him up by his neck and held on real tight. There was a wet popping sound from inside his throat.

I glanced over my shoulder at his friend outside. The elevator was slowly making its way down. Faster, I hoped, than the asshole on his way in. It was going to be tight…. I shoved my latest kill inside the elevator with me as the goon outside started to open the front door. The elevator doors almost closed on my arm as I reached out and grabbed the fallen Uzi.

As expected, there was a guard outside the elevator when it got to the 30th floor. Fortunately, he was too distracted with checking on his dead pal to notice that the body had been placed directly under the emergency exit hatch. 142 pounds of me dropping down onto his skull… that, he noticed. It was the last thing he noticed.

To my surprise, there were no other guards in the hall. A quick check of the cross hallways revealed no one else on the floor. It was all so easy; the situation stank like the back of Misato's fridge. Nowhere to go but forward, though.

Only one office door had light spilling from underneath it. I pulled out Eva. No need for quiet anymore. I still had my rules, though, still had to be sure. Didn't want to go in firing, only to cap a janitor or something. I turned the doorknob slowly, every scrape of the latch sounding as loud as a gunshot to me.

I almost had it open when someone tackled me from behind, throwing me to the floor. I was pinned, angry, and embarrassed. No one can sneak up on me. No one is that quiet! No one except…. I stared into her face as she lay on top of me and thanked God that I hadn't shot her.

"Rei?"

Then the world exploded.

I went deaf in my left ear. Something was stinging on that side of my body; my hand and my face. What I later found out was a shotgun blast had blown the door apart. Rei's body on top of me had shielded me, giving her the worst of it. Some of the shot and the splinters of the door had torn through her kimono and embedded in her back. Still, she rose and ran into the open doorway.

"Rei!" I screamed after her.

Eva led the way as I staggered into the office. Vision was a little spotty in my left eye, but I could see that Rei was charging the Angel. Only one of her two katanas was drawn. Her right arm hung limply at her side, covered in blood, while she swung wildly with the sword in her left hand. The girl was not as ambidextrous as she'd like to think.

Ramiel dodged a couple of clumsy slashes, then caught her left wrist with the hand that wasn't holding his shotgun. He squeezed, twisting her arm around and causing three feet of sharpened steel to fall useless to the floor. She tried to kick him with her left leg, but she was in too close to connect solidly. Her right leg screamed and buckled. She would have gone down, but Ramiel held her aloft by her wrist, dangling her like a rag-doll in front of him.

I dropped to one knee, cupping the butt of Eva's handle in my left hand to steady my aim. I closed one eye and sighted down her barrel, but five feet of Rei was covering most of my target. That bastard Ramiel was using her as a shield. Must've had another shot in that gun of his, too, because he was bringing it up to bear.

Everything seemed to slow down. My mind was on fire, picking and dismissing points to shoot as Rei swung in front of Ramiel. That shotgun was just easing its way into firing position. It gave its owner the luxury of not having to aim too carefully. Rei looked at me, knowing that if she tried to fight anymore, she might get herself shot by the Angel or me. But her eyes didn't say "help me". They said "do it".

I squeezed Eva's trigger, and the side of Ramiel's desk disintegrated.

I couldn't hit anything vital on him, because Rei was in the way. My bullet had torn clean through his shoulder, making a dent in the reinforced glass of the office windows behind him. But the impact had thrown his whole arm sideways, sending his shotgun blast wide.

He dropped Rei, and I knew it was over. She landed on her good leg and drew her second sword in an underhand grip. She pirouetted and swung, stopping after she completed a half-spin. A spray of blood joined the bullet-dent on the window, and Ramiel's torso fell from his hips to land on the floor with a wet thump.

Rei wiped her blade clean before returning it to its saya. She kicked the other katana off the floor and caught it in midair. Once she had that one was stowed away as well, Rei limped past me toward the open doorway.

I didn't know what to say. There was only one thing I could say….

"Hey… Rei," I said. I looked down at the splintered remains of the door. I watched her blood drip down onto the carpet. "Thank you…. Thank you for coming."

She looked for a second like she was going to cry. Not my Rei, though. She was stronger than that… she was stronger than anything… especially me.

No, what she did was smile.

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Continued…


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